The present invention relates to a compressor head. It finds particular application in conjunction with a compressor head including a cooling plate and two discharge reed valves, which discharge air from an associated compressor to the compressor head, and will be described with particular reference thereto. It will be appreciated, however, that the invention is also amenable to other applications.
Some compressor heads include a cooling plate for extending a path along which air is directed to pass by a cooling wall adjacent to a cooling channel as the air travels through an air channel after being received in the compressor head. For example, the cooling plate directs the air along a bottom portion of the cooling wall in a bottom portion of the air channel before passing through an aperture in the cooling plate and being directed along a top portion of the cooling wall in a top portion of the air channel. Extending the path along the cooling wall serves to facilitate further temperature reduction of the air before exiting the air channel.
The reed valves are typically positioned in the same portion of the compressor head (i.e., on a same side of the cooling plate), but on different sides (e.g., left side and right side) of the compressor head. More specifically, although both of the reed valves are in the same portion (e.g., a bottom portion) of the compressor head, one of the reed valves is positioned on a left side of the compressor head while the other of the reed valves is positioned on a right side of the compressor head.
Although both of the reed valves are on the same side of the cooling plate, one of the reed valves is positioned relatively closer to the aperture. Air dynamics proximate to the reed valve closer to the aperture may cause flutter in that reed valve as the air is exiting the air channel. The flutter tends to cause the reed valve closer to the cooling plate aperture to prematurely fail. For example, the reed valve closer to the cooling plate aperture tends to fail before the reed valve farther from the aperture.
The present invention provides a new and improved apparatus and method which addresses the above-referenced problem.